Time Quick Cryptic No 2935 by Mara

Author   TemplarPosted on Categories Quick Cryptic

Straight down the middle from Mara, with lots of neat setting and a surplus of double definitions. 07:32 for me, thanks to Mara and I hope that you all enjoyed it too.

Definitions underlined in bold.

Across
1 Astonishing looker going off (3-7)
EYE-POPPING – EYE [looker] + POPPING [going off, like a firework or a party popper]. It took me some while to escape the mind-trap of “eye-rotting”, which made no sense at all but had lodged itself in my frontal lobes.
7 Bird dog loses lead (5)
EAGLE – {b}EAGLE [dog loses lead]. The poor old beagle gets beheaded quite a bit in these parts.
8 Heart shown by men, but not head, in second performance (6)
ENCORE – EN [men “but not head” ie without first letter] + CORE [heart].
10 Sure easy forgetting a cryptic! (3)
YES – anagram [“cryptic”, not sure I’ve seen that as an anagram indicator before so I looked twice at this] of E{a}SY [easy forgetting a]. Pretty tricky for a three letter clue!
12 Tailor cut and ironed present (9)
INTRODUCE – anagram [tailor] of “cut” and “ironed”. Here it’s the verb to present/introduce.
13 Respect paid by a gentleman originally welcomed into house (6)
HOMAGE – A [a] + G [gentleman originally] go inside [welcomed into] HOME [house – the verb, as in house/home a refugee].
14 Go over  card game (6)
BRIDGE – double definition #1.
17 Novel race in paper (9)
NEWSPRINT – NEW [novel] + SPRINT [race]. Collins says “an inexpensive wood-pulp paper used for newspapers”.
19 Mark dead on target, initially (3)
DOT – first letters of [initially] “dead on target”.
20 Small enough specimen (6)
SAMPLE – S [small] + AMPLE [enough]. Elegant.
21 A question: one on Irish Asian (5)
IRAQI -A [a] + Q [question] + I [one], all going on IR [Irish]. I tend to think of the Middle East as not being part of Asia, but that is because I am rubbish at Geography.
23 Wild cactus near crab, say (10)
CRUSTACEAN -anagram [wild] of “cactus near”. I was recently in Baja California and the cacti grow all the way down to the sea, so this is not an impossible image!
Down
1 All in plate, very thin gruel (10)
EVERYTHING – hidden [in] “plate, very thin gruel”. Very good!
2 The scrambling thing, ultimately? (3)
EGG – last letters [ultimately] of “the scrambling thing“. Since you could, whimsically, say that an egg is “the scrambling thing, ultimately” I’m going to risk being beaten up by the Clue Police and suggest that this might well be the lesser spotted &Lit.
3 Initial  opportunity (7)
OPENING – double definition #2.
4 Quite  appealing (6)
PRETTY – double definition #3.
5 Chip on a chop, partly (5)
NACHO – fantastic surface, I loved it and COD from me. Hidden [partly] in “on a chop”.
6 Punished as a teenager, Don urged to reform (8)
GROUNDED – anagram [to reform] of “Don urged”.
9 Tedious  walker (10)
PEDESTRIAN – double definition #4. Piece of cake, this blogging lark.
11 4 down mates who modelled (8)
SOMEWHAT – anagram [modelled] of “mates how”. Do I think that it’s a bit rubbish to be told that the definition is the answer to another clue? Reader, I do.
15 Stainer ruined drink (7)
RETSINA – anagram [ruined] of “stainer”. Any mention of RETSINA revives teenage trauma of over-indulgence on a school trip to Athens. Aaarrghh.
16 Diggers children heard? (6)
MINERS – aural wordplay [heard] between MINERS/minors.
18 Musician narrowly beat queen (5)
PIPER – PIP [narrowly beat] + ER [queen].
22 Cut tax evasion to some extent (3)
AXE – hidden [to some extent] within “tax evasion”.

 

85 comments on “Time Quick Cryptic No 2935 by Mara”

  1. Just out of the SCC by a matter of seconds.
    Held up by MINERS and PEDESTRIAN.
    Backpacking and poor in the early ’80’s retsina took on a joy of its own.
    Tried it years later when out of Greece – it was just tree sap. Who would drink that?
    Same time, down to last ‘pennies’. Worked out that more calories, therefore more meals in a bottle of cheap port and a MARS bar than in salad or sandwiches.
    Have not touched port much since…
    Enjoyed this – thank you T and M

  2. An enjoyable 8:32, which was quite a change after the tussle I had with Izetti late last night, which took (gave?) a big chunk of time though I don’t know how much.

    I loved YES and EVERYTHING. CRUSTACEAN was excellent and I too was recently in Baja enjoying the crabs and cacti. Perhaps I crossed paths with Templar, who knows. And sorry everyone, I like cross-referring clues.

    Thanks Mara and Templar.

    PS: as long as we’re sharing horrible alcohol experiences I will add the de rigueur vodka on the Dnieper (as it was then) in Ukraine. Fortunately I had a private cabin in which to be sick.

  3. After a slow start the answers fell into place, for us, an enjoyable puzzle. We had the same problem with 1a as some others.

  4. I lack my muse today and it showed, with an at best PEDESTRIAN 15:54. Held up significantly by not being able to see POI PRETTY for a long time, even with SOMEWHAT firmly in place, so the cross reference didn’t really help me in reverse. Finally, its P eliminated the thoughts of EYE-OPENING and even less sensible -ROTTING to give me LOI 1a. COD EVERYTHING. Thanks all.

  6. Plain sailing although I took longer on PEDESTRIAN and MINER than the rest of the grid. Bit disappointed with that in hindsight but they just weren’t coming.

    Liked: HOMAGE

  7. A disappointing 14 mins when compared to the competition.

    Thanks for the blog.

    PS 7 short on 15 x 15. I’m finding this to be an almighty struggle at the moment. Hard to derive satisfaction from being so poor.

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